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People like Shaun Samaroo

Nov 30, 2014 Letters

Dear Editor,
I read where Stabroek News columnist, Shaun Samaroo has written that he has ended his column. I believe for the continuing preservation of the integrity of the Stabroek News, it would have been if Mr. Samaroo was asked to leave earlier. Mr. Samaroo fell into two categories of media operation – reporting for the Chronicle and commentary for Stabroek News
Let’s look at his commentary. In opinion pieces, the writer expresses his/her interpretation. You could disagree most vehemently with an opinion piece but it is your viewpoint. Two types of opinion output are universally common – one that is condemnatory, the other that is praiseworthy.
In the former, the commentator is on safe ground because he/she can always find a latent disadvantage in a policy or can cite reasons why the policy will not work. The story of Mr. Obama’s Heath Care Act falls into that category. It is good and positive but because its implications are far-reaching, a columnist can pick up on some weak dimensions and amplify it.
It is when you are praising someone you will find yourself in the spotlight because you are forced to speak about accomplishments. If you think Harry Jones is the most outstanding lawyer or Mickey Black is the best footballer then you have to cite achievements. If you cannot then you face the criticism of sycophancy or unenlightened opinions. Surely one is entitled to his/her opinion but they cannot be outlandishly ignorant, for example, homosexuality should be punished by death. That is the opinion of a Member of Parliament. This is a sick opinion.
I never read Mr. Samaroo until I was shopping at the Hot and Spicy Restaurant on Albert Street and a gentleman asked me who Samaroo was. He pointed to his column in which Samaroo said that only Priya Manickchand can secure the future of Guyana. I laughed and told him the guy is a lunatic so forget it (those were my words). He insisted I read “what this guy Samaroo wrote.”
It was that incident that caused me to peruse Samaroo. I read where he went on to say that Guyana’s future rests with Ministers Frank Anthony and Priya Manickchand. He classified the AFC as an obstacle to progress in Guyana. Hs political views weren’t political views. They were his strategy for getting a job at the Chronicle.
In all honesty, the Guyana Times is far a better newspaper than the Chronicle. No professional journalist would want to be associated with the Chronicle. We have to be sympathetic with those Chronicle reporters who need to retain their jobs as a source of income. From the time he appeared at the Chronicle, management of the Stabroek News should have become suspicious
Samaroo’s reporting on the Walter Rodney Commission wasn’t unprofessional, propagandistic and biased only. It was downright dangerous and nasty. It wasn’t reporting at all. It was political activism on behalf of the PPP and Government.
What he did, is that each time a WPA person took the stand and described the authoritarian milieu under which Walter Rodney and the WPA had to function, he would interject fictional words in his reporting and attribute them to the witnesses. In all instances, he would report the witnesses as saying that such a situation no longer exists in Guyana today. He made each WPA person speak positively of the present situation in Guyana.
Karen De Souza took objection to that. But months after he did the same with Tacuma Ogunseye and Patricia Rodney. It was clear to any observer what Samaroo’s role was. Come January 2015 he will continue his political tasks and mask it as journalism
What he wrote in his columns about the need for Guyana to heal and be united and Guyanese to work together was deception designed to fool the Stabroek readers. In the same breath he was contributing to the continuation of the tragedy that is Guyana. Let us hope this is the last we have seen of people like Shaun Samaroo in the independent media. He should remain at the Chronicle. Maybe PR work for the PPP could be his next port of calling
Frederick Kissoon       

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